Source: European Parliament
The Commission has adopted the proposal to amend the European Climate Law to include the net 90% 2040 climate target on 2 July 2025, following substantial engagement with Member States, European Parliament Groups, stakeholders, civil society and citizens, launched with the Commission’s recommendation on the target in February 2024.
The proposal provides for a limited number of flexibilities and supports the creation of the right enabling environment to implement the target.
The flexibilities include a possible limited contribution towards the 2040 target of high-quality international credits starting from 2036, the use of domestic permanent removals in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), and enhanced flexibility across sectors to help achieve targets in a cost-effective way.
It provides for the Commission to ensure that these flexibilities are appropriately reflected in designing the post-2030 legislation needed to achieve the 2040 target, and the future architecture should be based on robust impact assessments.
In February 2024, the Commission presented a recommended target for 2040, based on a detailed impact assessment[1]. The proposal is based on that impact assessment, which provided a detailed analysis of different levels of net greenhouse gas emissions in 2040 and the associated sectoral pathways bridging 2030 to climate neutrality by 2050.
Following the setting of the target for 2040, and in line with the foreseen reviews and based on impact assessments, the Commission will prepare a policy architecture beyond 2030.
- [1] COM(2024) 63 final, SWD/2024/63 final.